Many athletes and non-athletes participate in strength conditioning programs to maintain or improve their physical condition. Typically, these programs include a prescribed number of exercise routines periodically performed by the exerciser. Each exercise routine is designed to strengthen a particular muscle group. Depending on the nature of the exercise routine, or perhaps more accurately described as the exercise motion, and the muscle group involved, either an exercise machine, free weights or another type of exercise apparatus may be used, or even no apparatus at all.
Some exercises such as a bench press or a squat lend themselves quite easily to performance using free weights, i.e., barbells and weighted plates, dumbbells, etc., or performance on exercise machines. Other exercises, particularly aerobic exercises, are adaptable to multiple modes of performance. For instance, to exercise the leg muscles and particularly the quadriceps, an exerciser may perform a stair climbing motion as the exercise routine, either by actually using a stairway in a building, a stool as a step-up device, or with a machine which simulates stair climbing. Other exercises, such as sit-ups, are often performed without any exercise apparatus, but may be aided, or even made more difficult, by the use of some exercise apparatus, i.e., an inclined board to make the sit-ups more difficult.
For the performance of some exercise routines or exercise motions, the use of an exercise machine or an exercise apparatus has not been completely satisfactory, either due to the cumbersome manner in which the exercise apparatus must be used or the high cost of the exercise machine. One such exercise motion works the abdominal muscle group and is referred to as an abdominal flex motion. In this exercise motion, the exerciser pulls the legs upwardly with the knees bent in an abdominal/hip flex motion, while supported in a substantially upright position on an exercise sometimes referred to as a "hip flex" apparatus. This hip flex apparatus includes a pair of spaced, raised forearm pads with handles on the outer ends thereof. By holding his or her body above the ground and by bracing the arms against the pads, with the elbows and shoulders held rigid, the exerciser raises the knees upwardly toward his or her torso, with the knees bent, flexing the hips slightly at the end of the motion. This exercise motion strengthens the abdominal muscle group.
While a hip flex apparatus of this type is relatively inexpensive and has proved beneficial for a large number of exercisers, its use is limited to those who can support their weight above the ground. Thus, many persons in need of abdominal muscle strengthening of the type achieved via this motion are not likely to get the needed exercise with this typical hip flex apparatus, because they simply do not have sufficient arm and shoulder strength to hold themselves in the initial braced position, or they do not have enough abdominal strength to initially lift the legs at the knees. Elderly persons, handicapped persons or those recovering from an injury are likely to fall within this category of persons unable to use this hip flex apparatus. For these people, if they do manage to get into the braced position, they may even fall or over-exert themselves.
Thus, the well known hip flex apparatus is deficient in some respects because it does not meet the abdominal exercise needs of a significant number of exercisers, and for some exercisers it represents a potential safety hazard.
There exists an exercise machine of the pulley and chain type for performing an abdominal flex motion, as shown in a brochure published by Nautilus, and this machine is called an "Abdominal Exercise Machine". The exercise motion performed within this machine is not quite the same as the abdominal flex motion described above, because the exercise motion is not really performed from an upright position, rather the exerciser must bow the body forwardly in the machine while holding handles located above the shoulders.
Additionally, while this exercise machine, like many other strength training exercise machines, provides a safety benefit because the possibility of injury due to dropped weights is reduced, this machine may aggravate back problems due to the necessity to move the torso back and forth between oppositely directed bowed positions, with the hands holding handles located above the head. This exercise machine also has a significantly higher cost than the previously described hip flex apparatus. Finally, because of its shape and configuration, this machine is difficult to get into for some exercisers of the type previously described.
Thus, this exercise machine does not fulfill the need to facilitate the performance of an abdominal flex exercise motion for a substantial number of exercisers, nor does it adequately meet the deficiencies of the present hip flex apparatus.